Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The ECB is much more optimistic on the economy, but not on inflation.

"We think growth will slow slightly next year, but that inflation will continue to edge higher. Even if the take the ECB by its word, however, a 0.5 percentage point upgrade to the 2018 GDP outlook with only a small bump in the inflation forecast increases the risk that the central bank will err on the side of complacency."

The revival in the eurozone's fortunes was underlined by a closely-watched survey published earlier on Thursday, which indicated that businesses in the 19-nation bloc have been enjoying strong growth this month.